An almost complete version of the poster I did for the
mininaut project is available in powerpoint format on my
webpage here.
I ended up with first place :-) on to the research
competition for the school and then will compete soon for
all of the cal
state universities. Busy times, hope all is well for
everyone else.

My robot is coming along well (the research one for the
university.) I will finish the physical/electronic design
this month, then I will start the programming. Not too
much to report as far as progress because most of it has
been done on the schematic. I did pick up a nice Sony VAIO
laptop that is only 4 lbs - NICE! Check out the website that no longer
serves as a home for the company I was developing, but
rather a portal for robot activity.

My companies website,
www.LivingCreatures.com , has gone
through a complete
redesign. Not only does it serve as an information center
for our upcoming products, but it is also a complete web
portal where you can post to different forums and
participate in the community base. Please check it out.

The humanoid robot is coming along well. The structure is
carbon fiber, with a little aluminum and brass throughout.
I have modified all of the servos for a 4-wire interface
and have mounted them. Some are permanently fixed with
epoxy, as this was the best way due to the size
constraints.

In other news, my company website is up, although it is
being redesigned. The tough thing with a start-up is
getting everything that needs to be done - done. You can
check it out
and
send me an email on what you think. I should have some
photos of the humanoid project available soon.

Wow, it has been a while! My scaled down humanoid project
is now funded by the University. Although not designed to
perform its original function, it is nice to finally have
someone else buying my parts for me :-) I should have a
copy of pro/engineer arriving at my door in the next week,
which I will use to model the parts. I picked the Axiom
PB555 processor to run the robot- this is a kick butt
processor, but it is not for the lightweight. I should
have more regular updates happening since this project is
going to rule my life for the next year.

Just letting everyone know that I am still around. The
quarter is almost over and that means more time to be
working on robots. I have an idea for a micro actuator
based on muscle wire that would be fully proportional and
act like a servo. What would be the advantage of this? A
fully functional robotic human torso measured in tens of
grams :-) The interesting part will be trying to make
these little things. There is a company trying to
sell "nanomuscles", but they want $21 each in volume, which
is way more expensive than the $1 a motor would cost. The
design is good and I started thinking about it when I
realized that the current design for my robot is way too
expensive for it to be repeatable and something everyone
could enjoy making. If I was able to design the robot with
a couple of atmel controllers and leave out the rabbit 2000
and use these new muscles to power it rather than the
servos that I have, it would be smaller, lighter and most
importantly- cheaper. Just a thought to let everyone know
that I am still around :-)

Well, I am sorry to say that there is not much to report.
I have had a few personal set-backs, so any hobby has been
the least of my worries. Keeping up with the influx of mid-
quarter approaching is keeping my spare time busy. It is
likely at this point that there will be no significant
progress on anything until Dec. If something does come up
I will certainly put it on here.

THe latest update.... I am still pluging away at the
project even if it is a bit slow. School is occupying most
of my non-work time (duh). I have both arms made and just
need to update the linkages in the elbows. That is about
the extent of the project at the moment. I am having fun
with physics and I found out I have possibly the worst
instructor for calculus 2. I just put in my application
for the Foresite Institute's Nanotechnology conference in
Santa Clara. It is November 8-11, so if you are interested
in Nanotech that is the place to be! I opted out of the
lunch because I figure at an average of 50 dollars a day I
can get a good lunch elsewhere. Rooms are a group rate of
120 per night, but I did notice on the web they were
selling at 89 if you have AAA. I am looking forward to
this event in the hopes to make contacts in the industry,
or coming industry as it may be. Not doing much research
in the field until next summer (when I hope to do some for
NASA's Dryden research facility) so I doubt I will have
much insight for others to be impressed by, but I have a
few ideas :-) That is about it.... if you had thought of
going to this conference drop me a email and we can meet
there. That is about it......